The Legend of Zelda: The Ryouga of Time
by Hyp3rB14d3
Summary: The Great Deku Tree sends Navi on her quest, and Navi the fairy makes a mistake.
1. Chapter 1

The Legend of Zelda: The Ryouga of Time

Deep in the heart of Hyrule lies a cursed forest, the Lost Woods. These woods are said to be impossible to navigate. Few know the true reason behind the disorienting force of the woods: the Great Deku Tree.

For centuries, this tremendous, sentient tree has watched over the forest, keeping order within. By its power, outsiders stay out, natives stay in, and the population of monsters stays under control. But there was one thing it didn't count on. The effect of its power upon someone who was already constantly lost.

0o0o0

Ryouga Hibiki, age 10, had been wandering for days. This was not unusual for him. Like both of his parents before him, Ryouga had been born with a terrible sense of direction. To him, it seemed like the world around him moved whenever he wasn't looking. Consequently, he spent a good portion of his time lost.

This time, however, Ryouga had gotten particularly lost. He suspected he was somewhere around Kyushu. In actuality, he wasn't in Japan anymore. He wasn't even in Asia. In fact, Ryouga Hibiki was no longer on Earth. He was in Hyrule. And he was in the Lost Woods. And he was tired and hungry.

As soon as he entered the woods, Ryouga noticed a strange feeling. It was one he hadn't experienced very often. It was almost as if he knew where he was going. Even though everywhere looked the same, he felt drawn in a particular direction. And soon enough...

"Hey! A village!"

Ryouga Hibiki found himself at the outskirts of a village.

0o0o0

At the heart of the Lost Woods, the Great Deku Tree stirred from its slumber. "Navi... Navi, where art thou? Come hither..."

Immediately, a small, blue fairy flew up to the tree. Like all of the inhabitants of the Lost Woods, Navi the fairy treated the Great Deku Tree with the utmost respect. It was, after all, the protector of the forest.

"Oh, Navi the fairy... Listen to my words, the words of the Deku Tree..." stated the Great Deku Tree. "Dost thou sense it? The climate of evil descending upon this realm... Malevolent forces even now are mustering to attack our land of Hyrule..." The tree almost seemed to sigh, despite not having lungs. "For so long, the Kokiri Forest, the source of life, has stood as a barrier, deterring outsiders and maintaining the order of the world... But... before this tremendous evil, even my power is as nothing..."

A tremor passed through Navi. Despite being literally rooted to the spot, the Great Deku Tree was indeed quite powerful. For the tree to describe the evil force as such, it must be mighty indeed. That, or the Great Deku Tree was exaggerating slightly for the sake of being dramatic. It did occasionally do that. Regardless, even if the tree did occasionally exaggerate, it did not outright lie. Thus, the threat was to be taken seriously.

"It seems the time has come for the boy without a fairy to begin his journey..." Or not. "The youth whose destiny it is to lead Hyrule to the path of justice and truth... Navi... go now! Find our young friend and guide him to me..."

Apparently, the Great Deku Tree was facing a threat so dangerous that only a small child could hope to handle it. With a sigh, Navi took off. Even if the Great Deku Tree was apparently going somewhat senile, it was still the protector of the forest, and it was important to treat it with the utmost respect. So Navi needed to accomplish this task as quickly as possible.

In her hurry to do the great tree's bidding, Navi missed the rest of its speech. "I do not have much time left. Fly, Navi, fly! The fate of the forest, nay, the world, depends upon thee!"

0o0o0

Mido, the self proclaimed leader of the Kokiri, was having a good day. He'd hit on Saria, made someone cut the grass in front of her house, made someone pick up the rocks from in front of his house, and best of all, that fairy-less loser Link hadn't been around all morning. In fact, he was feeling so good that he was considering hitting on Saria again. In his good mood, he almost missed it.

From the entrance to the Lost Woods, a stranger stumbled into his village. Had he not been alert, he might have mistaken him for a Kokiri. However, this stranger had unusual clothes, a yellow shirt and black pants, with some sort of odd pack attached to his back, as opposed to the uniform green tunics that all Kokiri wore. He also had strange ears; they were short and rounded, as opposed to long and pointed like everyone else's. Perhaps he'd been in an accident of some sort? But strangest of all was his hair. Unlike the bright colors of Kokiri hair, this stranger's hair was black as... something really black. Clearly he was some sort of invader. Which meant it was time for Mido the Great to put his foot down.

"Hey you!"

The stranger, who had been slouching under the weight of his pack up to this point, abruptly stood up straight and looked at him. At which point Mido noticed The stranger was a good half a foot taller than him. It didn't sound like much, but that's quite a difference when one is barely breaking the three foot mark.

Fighting the urge to swallow nervously, Mido stomped over to the stranger as threateningly as he could. "Who do you think you are, coming into our village like that?"

"What?" Asked Ryouga.

"You know what I mean!" yelled Mido.

Ryouga didn't, and looked confused.

"This village is the home of the Kokiri, and visitors aren't allowed.

Ryouga's confusion shifted to despair. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to intrude. I was just looking for somewhere to rest from my travels. I'll be going now. But before I leave, could you point me in the direction of Tokyo?"

Mido did not know where Tokyo was. He had never been outside of the Lost Woods, and wasn't aware of the geography of Hyrule, much less how to get to other worlds. Nevertheless, Mido was not one to admit his flaws, so he did the first thing he could think of.

"Tokyo is that way," he said, pointing toward the entrance to the Lost Woods that Ryouga had just come out of.

"Thanks," replied Ryouga as he started walking deeper into the village.

"Hey!" yelled Mido. Already he could tell this was not going to be a good day.

0o0o0

Navi flew into the Kokiri village. She had never met this 'Link' character, but she had heard of him. He was the only member of the Kokiri that did not have a fairy. As such, he wouldn't be too hard to find. Kokiri were never separate from their fairies.

As she flew over the village, the sound of Mido yelling drew her attention. Looking, she saw him chasing someone in odd clothing. Someone without a fairy. "Bingo."

Flying over to the fairy-less child, she went straight to the point. "I'm Navi the fairy! The Great Deku Tree asked me to be your partner from now on! Nice to meet you! The Great Deku Tree has summoned you! So let's get going... right now!"

That stopped both Mido and 'Link' in their tracks. "What?!"

_Oh great. He's also stupid._ Navi repeated herself, this time speaking slowly. "The Great Deku Tree has summoned you. Please come with me."

"Uh... okay," said Ryouga to the talking ball of light with wings.

Mido, on the other hand, was speechless.


	2. Chapter 2

Stunned, Mido could only stare dumbly as the outsider left with the fairy. The same fairy that had just informed said outsider that he was being summoned by the Great Deku Tree.

Him.

An outsider.

Not Mido. Not Saria. Not even that loser Link. Some random moron who stumbled into the village. It had to be a mistake.

...

Of course! That must have been it! There must have been some sort of mistake! Breaking free of his bewilderment, Mido rushed to catch up with the duo.

0o0o0

Eagerly, Ryouga followed Navi. He didn't know who this 'Great Deku Tree' was, but anything was better than getting kicked out of the village. Maybe he'd even get a meal out of this. It had been a while since he'd last eaten, and the local flora was unfamiliar to him. He preferred not to put together a meal from his surroundings without knowing what he was eating. Doing so had led to more than a few poisoned meals.

Lost in his thoughts, Ryouga failed to notice Mido approaching from behind.

"WAIT!" shouted Mido.

With a start, Ryouga spun around. Navi just groaned.

"What's your business with the Great Deku Tree?" demanded Mido.

"Navi says he summoned me," replied Ryouga.

"He did," confirmed Navi. "Now hurry up! Let's go!"

Turning, Ryouga started to follow Navi through a narrow path between two rocky walls.

Frustrated, Mido fumbled, looking for some sort of excuse. "I don't believe it! You aren't even fully equipped yet!" Mido knew he was reaching for straws, but he didn't care. How dare a mere outsider be more important to his leader than him! "How do you think you're going to help the Great Deku Tree without both a sword and a shield ready?" In all fairness, it was a legitimate point. The forest had grown more dangerous as of late. Monsters had even begun appearing near the village.

As if they had been waiting for Mido's cue, three monstrous plants abruptly burst from the ground around Ryouga. They looked somewhat like gigantic weeds, each ending in a humongous indigo bulb. Which were parted down the middle by snapping purple beaks.

"Link, watch out!" yelled Navi. Ryouga, busy dealing with the suddenly present monsters, failed to register what the fairy had just called him. Mido didn't, and would have said something, but he was too busy running.

"Those are called-" Navi started to say, but she was interrupted by three loud thumps as Ryouga landed three solid blows on the man-eating flora, soundly dispatching of them. "...Wow! No wonder the Great Deku Tree wants your help!"

"Er... Actually, what does he want my help for?" asked Ryouga.

"He'll tell you himself," replied Navi cheerily as she silently amended her opinion of 'Link'. "The Great Deku Tree is right around the corner."

"Alright." Instead of moving, however, Ryouga stared down at the dead plants.

"Is something wrong?" asked Navi.

"No," replied Ryouga as he continued staring. "It's just-" Ryouga's own stomach interrupted him with a loud rumble. "Are these things edible?"

0o0o0

"Great Deku Tree... I'm back!" shouted Navi.

Ryouga held back a gasp. When he had been told that he had been summoned by the Great Deku Tree, he hadn't actually expected it to actually be... well, a tree! (Ryouga was not the brightest crayon in the box.)

Before him stood a massive tree, the trunk of which somehow resembled the face of an old man. A sad, tired old man that was had lived far too long and been through far too many sad experiences. Ryouga almost expected it to begin talking. And then, much to his shock, it did.

"Oh... Navi... Thou hast returned..." said the tree in a tired, sad voice. "Link... Welcome..."

Ryouga stood quietly, too stunned to speak, let alone correct the giant talking tree. Or even process the mistake, for that matter.

"Listen carefully to what I, the Great Deku Tree, am about to tell thee... Thy slumber these past moons must have been restless and full of nightmares..." As Ryouga's brain rebooted, he had the distinct notion that he had just missed something important. "As the servants of evil gain strength, a vile climate pervades the land and causes nightmares to those sensitive to it... Verily, thou hast felt it... Link... The time has come to test thy courage..." Ryouga's brain hit a new stumbling point. His name wasn't Link. "I have been cursed..." Navi gasped, finally grasping the depth of the situation. Ryouga gasped as well, having just realized that he was being mistaken for someone else. "I need thee to break the curse with thy wisdom and courage." There was a pause, and as Ryouga tried to figure out how to tell the Great Deku Tree that he wasn't this Link person, the point was made moot.

"...Wait... Who art thou?"

"Uh... Ryouga Hibiki, sir."

"WHAT?!" yelped Navi.

"Navi... It seems an outsider has made his way through the Lost Woods..." Nervously, Ryouga scratched the back of his head. "Verily, every moment my powers weaken further... Navi the fairy... Thou must return to the village and retrieve Link..."

"Great Deku Tree, no!"wailed Navi, on the verge of panicking. "There's no time! We have to help you now! We can just get Ryouga to help instead."

"Don't I get a say in this?"

Ignoring Ryouga's complaint, Navi desperately forced her way onward. "If I have to go get Link, arm him, and bring him back here, you might not make it!"

To the Great Deku Tree, the denizens of the woods were like children. If it had the power to do so, it would spare Link the hardship it knew he would have to go through to achieve his destiny. It would spare Navi the heartbreak of knowing that she was too late to save him. And it would spare the Kokiri the grief they would feel from hos death. But no such power existed. Link had to leave the village, perhaps permanently, to save Hyrule. The Great Deku Tree had to die. And poor Navi had to go back and retrieve Link so that they could break the curse, even though it was already too late to save him.

Unless...

"Very well... Ryouga, thou may indeed possess the power necessary to break the curse that has befallen me... It may not be fair, but I must ask thou; dost thou have courage enough to undertake this task?"

Ryouga paused. He was tired and hungry from his journey, and there was no guarantee that he would be able to find his way back to the village when he was finished.

**"Ryouga, please!" begged Navi**

If he were a smarter person, he would have considered that what was being asked of him sounded rather dangerous. If he was a more pragmatic person, he would have asked for something in return. There was nothing to gain from doing this for free, and he might end up hurt or worse.

But Ryouga was neither smart nor pragmatic. He was a marial artist. And it was a martial artist's duty to help those in need.

"Alright," Ryouga agreed.

"Then enter, brave Ryouga, and thou too, Navi..." said the Great Deku Tree, the 'mouth' of the tree sliding open to permit entry to within. "Navi the fairy... Thou must aid Ryouga... And Ryouga... When Navi speaks, listen well to her words of wisdom..."

For some reason, Ryouga suddenly felt that he would come regret the decision he had just made. Ignoring that feeling, he began walking forward.

"Wait, where are you going?!" shouted Navi as Ryouga began walking to the left of the tree. "Ryouga!"


	3. Chapter 3

After leading Ryouga back to the entrance, Navi and Ryouga entered the mouth of the Great Deku Tree. As the duo stepped inside, Ryouga's eyes widened in surprise and Navi let out a gasp.

The Great Deku Tree had been hollowed out, to the point that it almost looked bigger on the inside than it did on the outside. Spiderwebs were everywhere. A cobweb covered hole sat in the middle of the tree, and more of them rose to the top of the tree. Giant spiders could be seen resting all over the tree, ranging from merely cat sized to the size of an adult man. Nearby, several more of the monstrous plants from outside sat in wait, preparing to ambush unwary passerbys. Oddly enough, a ladder was leaning against one of the walls. If Ryouga and Navi were smarter, they might have questioned its presence. Instead, Ryouga walked over to the hole in the trunk.

"Look, look, Ryouga! You can see down below this web if you look down!" chirped Navi.

"Yeah," replied Ryouga. Navi was right. There seemed to be some sort of chamber below. It looked like the water below could cushion his fall if he managed to get through them. Hesitantly, and without a thought toward how he was going to get back up, Ryouga took a step onto the spiderweb. Which supported his weight.

Nervously, he walked to the center of the web. And then he stomped on it. And then he jumped up and down. Nothing happened. If he was going to get down below, he would need to clear out the spiderweb.

Idly, his eyes wandered over to the ladder. Maybe if he slammed a heavy object into the web...

"Wait, what are you doing?" asked Navi.

"Breaking through the hole," Ryouga replied as he lifted the ladder over his head. With a mighty smash, he slammed the ladder onto the web-covered hole. Unfortunately, having misjudged the width of the hole, the top of the ladder hit the ground on the other side of the hole. With a loud crack, the ladder snapped in half.

"RYOUGA!" yelled Navi. "You just broke the ladder! Now how are we supposed to get up there?!"

"Eh? I thought we were going down there?" replied Ryouga, motioning toward the hole.

"We can't go that way! There's a spiderweb blocking it!"

"I thought I could break the spiderweb with the ladder."

"You broke the ladder with the spiderweb!"

An awkward silence broke out. After a moment, Navi suddenly flew over to one of the walls. "Look at the wall! The vines growing on it give it a rough surface... Maybe you can climb it, Ryouga!"

Ryouga walked over to the vines, killing another of the monstrous plants with a swift kick on his way over. After giving the vines a test tug to make sure they could hold his weight, he began climbing.

Upon reaching the top, Ryouga paused to take a look around. To the right, the floor seemed to move up in a gradual incline. More importantly, down the incline to the left, a portion of the trunk jutted out from the wall, hanging over the hole. Navi was saying something, but once again, Ryouga was fixated on breaking the cobwebs covering the hole.

"Ryouga?" asked Navi when her companion failed to respond. Turning her back to the wooden chest she'd just found, the fairy spotted the Ryouga just as he jumped off a ledge toward the hole. "Wait you idiot! You didn't get rid of-"

CRACK!

"-the ladder..." Navi finished lamely, as the web stretched up and down from the impact. Flying down, Navi examined him. Shockingly, Ryouga only seemed to have sustained minor injuries. The ladder, however, had been smashed to pieces. Well, more pieces, anyways. And the spiderweb was still intact. "Maybe we should try dropping something on it that isn't you."

"Ow...kay," groaned Ryouga.

0o0o0

After climbing back up the vines, Ryouga looked around. The wall behind him was covered in vines like the ones he'd just climbed, and there seemed to be a second overhang up above.

The floor of the current level rose on a slight incline, interrupted every so often by steps. A large wooden chest sat just a little way up said incline.

As Ryouga approached the chest, Navi suddenly flew up toward the wall, pausing in front of a giant, white and black spider with a skull shaped abdomen. "That's a Skullwalltula! Be careful not to touch it!" Nearby, a second, identical spider clung to the vine-covered wall, with a third hanging from much higher up.

Keeping an eye on the spiders, Ryouga reached for the chest. And then grabbed it. Lifting it up, he ran up the incline toward the overhang, preparing to throw the heavy object into the spiderweb covering the hole. Except the ledge suddenly cut off, with no overhang!

"Ryouga, stop! You're going the wrong way!"

0o0o0

Mido ran.

He knew what he had heard. The fairy had called that stranger 'Link'. But the stranger had not introduced himself as 'Link'. He had introduced himself as 'Ryouga'. Which meant that he was not who the Great Deku Tree had summoned.

Charging forward, he spotted his goal: the tree containing Link's house. Passing Saria without so much as a hello, Mido grabbed the ladder and started climbing.

Normally, Mido would not help Link. He would do everything in his power to hinder the fairyless outcast that had joined their village only a decade before. But if there was anything Mido hated more than Link, it was outsiders. And while Link didn't have a fairy, he was part of the village. There was no way he was going to let some outsider help the Great Deku Tree instead of a Kokiri!

As he reached the top of the ladder, Mido lunged forward, landing in a roll. Spinning to the side, he spotted Link still asleep in his bed.

"Hey!" yelled Mido, grabbing the unconscious boy and shaking him. "Wake up! The Great Deku Tree summoned you!"

"Ack!" replied Link as he was abruptly awakened.

"Hurry up and get ready! You've got to hurry!"

"..." replied a confused Link, unsure that he wasn't still dreaming.

With a grunt, Mido grabbed his arm and yanked him out of bed.

0o0o0

After being led to the overhang by Navi, Ryouga tossed the heavy chest into the spiderweb covering the hole. This time, the web did not hold up. At first it stretched, but the force of the weighty wooden chest thrown from so high up proved to be far more than the spiderweb could withstand. With a tearing noise, the web ripped apart.

"Ryouga! You did it!" cheered Navi. "Now we can get down to the root of the problem! Now let's-"

Navi cut off as Ryouga jumped after it. From the same height he'd just thrown the chest. Navi fell silent as Ryouga plunged several stories down.

With a loud splash, Ryouga landed in the water at the bottom of the hole. Fortunately, he somehow managed to avoid the heavy chest floating next to him.

In hindsight, jumping down after the chest probably hadn't been the smartest choice of action, especially since the wall behind him was covered in the same easily climbable vines as the area above the hole, but at least he'd managed to avoid injuring himself. Still, he decided that next time he would remember to look for a way to climb down first.

At some point, the chest floating next to him had come open. Apparently, all the large chest had contained was a single piece of paper. Unfortunately, the water had ruined whatever message had been written on it beyond recognition. Hopefully it wasn't anything important. He decided that he would also take a look at whatever was inside the next wooden chest he came across before doing something with it that could potentially destroy the contents.

"Ryouga!" shouted Navi, as the fairy flew down next to him. "Are you okay!?"

"I'm fine," replied the boy, climbing out of the alarmingly shallow water. How the heck had that been deep enough to cushion his fall?! "So, where is this curse?"

Looking around, the duo found themselves in a small chamber, divided into three sections by a small body of water. A door was visible nearby, but was covered in the same spiderwebs that had covered the hole. A large metal switch stuck up out of the floor nearby. And another of the monstrous plants lunged forward at Ryouga.

CRUNCH

"Man, there sure are a lot of those things around here," muttered Ryouga, wiping his hand clean of the juice that had leaked from the plant's 'head' when he had punched it.

"Those are called Deku Baba, by the way," Navi interjected. "If you hit it when it lunges at you, it will stand upright. Without killing it, I mean," the fairy quickly specified. "It won't stand upright if it's dead. Anyways, when it does that, cut it quickly to get a Deku Stick."

Ryouga looked at the fairy. "How am I supposed to cut it?"

"I don't know. Don't you have a knife or something?"

"Nope. I accidentally left mine behind with my travelling pack."

"Ryouga, you're wearing a travelling pack."

"No, this is my backpack. I got lost on my way to school."

"..." Navi, not sure what the difference between a backpack and a travelling pack was, or even what a school was for that matter, decided to change topics and flew off to investigate the room. "Look, there's another hole over here!"

"Really? Let me see!" With a casual leap, Ryouga joined her by the hole, killing another Deku Baba with a backhand. "Hey, you're right."

"Yeah!"

"That must be where the curse is."

"Maybe!"

"..."

"..."

"...There's nowhere around here that's high enough up to drop something to rip open this hole from, is there?"

"Nope!"

"..."

"..."

Ryouga said a word that wasn't appropriate for a child his age to use.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey!" exclaimed Navi, abruptly flying over to a metal object sticking out of the ground on the other side of the room. "Look at this, Ryouga! It's a switch! Try stepping on it!"

10-year-old Ryouga, having not yet had the unpleasant experience of dealing with pressure sensitive traps, saw no reason not to do so. Jumping across the room, Ryouga landed on the metal switch. To his amazement, this caused a nearby torch to ignite, incinerating the cobwebs that had been covering it. Fortunately, the flames died out before they could spread to the wood around the torch.

Ryouga's eyes widened. "You can burn them," he muttered with a grin. He also subconsciously noted that stepping on switches caused good things to happen. This unfortunate subconscious conclusion would eventually cause all kinds of hell for him later on in his life.

"Ryouga, go kill a Deku Baba!" instructed Navi. "If we can get a Deku Stick, we can use the torch to light it and-"

Navi was interrupted by the sound of Ryouga ripping the lit torch free from the ground.

"...Or that. That works too," mumbled the fairy.

Before Navi could say anything else, Ryouga turned and jumped to the other side of the room. Raising the torch, he prepared to ignite the web covering the hole. But to his shock, the hole was gone! "No! Where'd it go!?"

"Over here!" cried Navi. "The hole is over here!"

"Stupid moving holes," grumbled Ryouga as he jumped over to where the hole actually was.

0o0o0

"Alright, Link," said Mido. "Before you can go help the Great Deku Tree, you've got to be properly equipped. So, where's your sword and shield?"

Link just stared at him dumbly.

"...You don't have any, do you?"

Link shook his head. Mido groaned. He could already tell this was going to be a long day.

0o0o0

As the flames of the torch met the web covering the hole in the tree trunk, it burst into flames, much like the webs that had been covering the torch to begin with. And once again, the flames died out once they consumed the web, not having time to burn hot enough to ignite the surrounding wood.

Looking down, Ryouga couldn't see much. The hole in the trunk wasn't so much a hole as it was a tunnel, leading down into an open area. Vines covered part of the tunnel, leading all the way down to the bottom, which appeared to be filled with water. Unfortunately, Ryouga couldn't see enough of the surrounding area to determine if the water just was around the bottom of the tunnel, or if the whole room was filled with it.

If Ryouga was smarter, he might have asked Navi to check for him. If Navi was smarter, she would have done it without being asked. Instead, the pair of them stared at the surprisingly well lit watery area that was visible at the bottom of the drop. After a moment, Ryouga set the still burning torch aside and prepared to jump down.

"Wait!" yelled Navi, as the boy jumped down the hole. "The vines! Climb down on the vines!"

But it was too late. Groaning in frustration, the fairy flew down after the impulsive boy.

0o0o0

"Alright Link," said Mido, doing his best to impress the seriousness of the situation upon the fairyless fool before him. "The only sword in the village is the Kokiri Sword. You may _borrow_ the sword for the sake of helping out the Deku Tree, but you need to return it afterward. And be careful with it. The Kokiri Sword is an important piece of Kokiri history, and it needs to be treated as such. You can't just keep it forever for your personal use. And you especially can't have some blacksmith alter it for the sake of making it a more effective weapon. Even if the alteration does involve gilding the blade."

Link gave him an odd look.

"...Yeah, I don't know where I was going with that one either," admitted Mido. "Anyway, the sword is in the training grounds. You go get it, and I'll go buy a shield. We'll meet back here when we're done."

Nodding, Link set off.

0o0o0

With a loud splash, Ryouga landed in the water at the bottom of the hole. The disturbingly shallow water at the bottom of the hole. In hindsight, jumping down the hole into the water of unknown depth probably hadn't been the smartest choice of action, especially since the wall behind him was covered in the same easily climbable vines as the area near the entrance of the Great Deku Tree, but at least he'd managed to avoid injuring himself. Still, he decided that next time he would remember to look for a way to climb down first. For some reason, Ryouga had the strangest feeling of deja vu, but he quickly brushed it off.

Turning, he faced the wall. "..." Turning again, he faced away from it.

Not far from where he floated, the water gave way to shore. At the end of the room stood a door, guarded only by three bushes.

"You idiot!" shouted Navi accusingly as she flew beside him. "Didn't you learn anything from the last hole? What if there had been rocks just under the water? Or sharks? You could have died! Then who would help me save the Great Deku Tree?"

"Sorry," replied Ryouga, mildly embarrassed. Now that Navi mentioned it, he did remember thinking something similar regarding the last hole. "Anyways, I didn't die, so let's get going." With that, Ryouga began wading toward the shore. However, as he reached it, the three 'bushes' suddenly stood up, revealing themselves to be odd wooden monsters with leaves growing out of their heads, red eyes, and short, pipe-like trunks.

Ryouga froze in place. Unfortunately, that was just about the worse choice of action he could have made in the situation. Simultaneously, the three bush monsters turned to face the boy, raised their trunks, and fired large nuts at him.

"Ryouga!" yelped Navi, snapping him out of his shock. The boy burst into action, attempting to dodge, but it was too little too late. Despite his effort, he only avoided two of the nuts. "NO!" yelled the fairy, as the third Deku Nut nailed Ryouga across the chest, directly over his heart. And bounced off, causing a painful stinging sensation.

"Ow," said Ryouga, rubbing where he'd been hit, but not seriously injured.

Navi fell silent, feeling moderately embarrassed at her overreaction. Taking a direct hit from a Deku Nut could kill a fairy, but not a human. Not with a single nut, anyway.

The bush monsters proceeded to fire more nuts at the Ryouga. The boy dove to the side, this time successfully evading the Deku Nuts. Rolling to his feet, Ryouga raised his arms to protect his face, a plan already in mind.

0o0o0

Link looked around the training area. There were several fences, some rocks, some grass, and a fellow Kokiri who was busy training. However, no sword was in sight. Link waved at the nearby Kokiri and started to walk over to him, but paused halfway there.

In the wall next to him was a large hole. A very large hole. In fact, it looked like it was big enough for him to crawl through. Instantly forgetting his intent to ask the other Kokiri for help, Link got down on his hands and knees and crawled through the hole.

On the other side of the hole was what looked like a maze of some sort. Link loved mazes! Charging forward, the boy rolled through the grass, finding a few dropped rupees, the local currency of the land, on his way through. However, as he rolled, he caught sight of something else rolling toward him from behind. Specifically, a rather large boulder.

In an instant, he was back on his feet, fleeing as fast as he could. The maze turned left, and so did he. And so did the boulder. Yelping, Link ran faster, losing any sense of enjoyment he had felt from his discovery of a maze hidden in the Kokiri Training Grounds.

This time the maze made a two-way split, the left leading to either a dead end or another turn, and the right leading to a dead end with sign and a large chest. Link turned right.

Diving behind the chest, Link waited for the boulder to slam into the chest and hopefully stop before it crushed him. But the boulder never came. Looking out from around the chest, Link spotted the boulder rolling the other direction. Standing up, he walked around the chest.

Link wondered what could be inside it, as the sign next to it gave no hint as to what its contents could be. With a shrug, Link opened it up and looked inside.

0o0o0

**_''With a cocky grin, Ryouga bulled forward through the barrage of nuts, ignoring the annoying sensation caused by them bouncing off his iron-like hide, straight toward the one in the middle. Tackling it to the ground, the boy proceeded to wail away on it, each blow launching leaves into the air, while the other two monsters continued firing at him, unable to so much as slightly hinder the beating he was delivering to the bush monster he had pinned to the ground.''_**

**_''After a few seconds of pounding while the other bush monsters ineffectually fired nuts at him, he deemed the bush sufficiently mulched and turned to his left. He then charged the next monster, vigorously repeating the process.''_**

**_''A few seconds later, he turned to the last of the bush monsters. "So, are you ready to become fertilizer?" he asked. The monster looked at him, then at its pulped comrades. With a wail, it took off, opening the door it was guarding on its way out of the room, opening the path for him.''_**

_''Yes,''_ thought Ryouga. ''_That's exactly how it'll go.''_ And with a cocky grin, the boy charged forward, arms raised to protect his face. Doing his best to ignore the trio of painful stings he received in response to his reckless plan, Ryouga lowered his arms and prepared to beat the bush monster into submission. But when he looked up, it was gone.

Another pair of painful stings reminded him that there were several of the bush monsters. Turning to the nearest remaining monster, he lunged at it, only to be left grabbing at leaves while another pair of nuts impacted his back.

Standing up, he spun around. The missing monster was back.

"Ryouga!" shouted Navi. "Those are Deku Scrubs! They'll hide in the grass if you get close to them. Bounce the nuts they spit back at them!"

Taking a fighting stance, Ryouga waited. And the Deku Scrubs didn't disappoint. Both of them fired at him, and the boy grinned. With a kick, he launched the seed back at Deku Scrub. And missed. To add injury to insult, the second nut hit him across his right butt cheek.

"Ow!" yelped Ryouga, clutching his buttocks in pain as he fell to the ground. Rolling back to his feet, he prepared to try again. Only to take a Deku Seed to the side as the scrub he'd been standing on fired at him.

"Ryouga! This isn't working!" wailed Navi. "You need a shield!"

With a grunt, Ryouga ran forward. And past the Deku Scrubs toward the water. Navi was right. This wasn't working.


End file.
